One of the biggest focuses and challenges in riding is the seat. The principle sounds so simple, but the practice can be anything but. But what is the correct seat? Why is the seat what it is? How do we use it once we attain the position? This part is going to focus on the [...]
In riding, it's not too difficult to get stuck in a monotonous routine. Jumpers tend to stick to a schedule of flatwork and jumping, dressage riders tend to ride dressage all the time, etc. However, this is not always great for our horses. They like variety, as in the wild, they never stay in one [...]
We’ve all known the horses that launch in the air over a fluttering leaf and that always see a monster in every shadow. We’ve also all known the horses that are mostly calm but have not infrequent days when they are looking to spook. Others just are bubbling over with energy, feeling a bit like [...]
Many riders use riding as their sole form of exercise. While riding does make you strong and fit, there's more to it than just riding. To be a good rider, we have to make sure we're doing the best by our bodies and our minds. In fact, many if not all of the top riders [...]
Most of us have been in a situation around or on horses where our confidence just vanishes. We think about all the bad things that might happen, and our heart rates skyrocket. If we let this fear take over, we find we get less and less comfortable doing what we used to do, and then [...]
Riding lessons Regular riding lessons can take on several different focuses. We use a number of patterns to help horse and rider find how they should use their bodies on their own. Many of these patterns are meant to challenge horse and rider mentally, but the result is that the pair does more than they [...]
So often when we think of a dressage rider, we think of a rider with a "perfect" seat and a horse that can just flow through the Grand Prix. This image, while beautiful, can be discouraging to others. "Oh, I can't do that; I have scoliosis, so my seat will always be crooked." "Oh, my [...]
The horse world is its own world, full of all kinds of words and phrases that are unique to just the horse world. Within this world are many nations, each with their own dialect (if not language). The classical world probably has one of the most complicated vocabulary. For people with a regular dressage background, [...]
We've all been there in riding and training. Progress seems to flow amazingly, and we feel like our goals are just at our fingertips, and then weeks go by with seemingly no progress if not regression. It's frustrating and depressing, and suddenly that goal seems so far away again. Whether that goal is to ride [...]
Claude Debussy once wrote: “The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between them.” This may seem strange coming from a renowned composer of favorites like “Claire de Lune” and “Arabesques,” but it refers to that feeling between the notes, where musician and listener are waiting eagerly for where the music goes [...]
